In one of his final acts as President of the United States – at least in a sports sense – Joe Biden welcomed the 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to the White House to celebrate their accomplishments.

The Celtics gathered in Washington, DC for an annual traditional celebration of the accomplishments of the league’s champion.

Members of the championship-winning team gathered behind Biden outside the White House as the outgoing President congratulated them on the title. The Celtics also gave Biden a jersey of theirs with his name and the number 46 on the back.

However, the 82-year-old was met with a mixture of awkward chuckles and stunned silence when he attempted to make a bizarre joke at the podium. 

He appeared to mockingly confuse the Celtics with a fictional Baltimore franchise – the Maryland city does not have an NBA team – before clarifying Boston’s name. 

‘I don’t know any of these guys behind me but they just showed up,’ he began. ‘I don’t know where the hell they came from.

Biden poses with Governor of the Boston Celtics Wyc Grousbeck and the Larry O’Brien trophy

He then appeared to stumble over his words as he quipped: ‘The 2024 NBA Champions: the Bals- … you guys are the Celtics, right?’ 

The champion players gathered behind him looked extremely uncomfortable with a couple seemingly unable to distinguish the outgoing president’s joke from yet another gaffe. 

A couple of the hoops stars nodded in confirmation, while a handful let out an anxious chuckle. 

Biden went on to quote legendary NBA head coach Arnold ‘Red’ Auerbach, who led the Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1950 to 1966. 

‘As Red Auerbach used to say, the Celtics aren’t just a basketball team, they’re a way of life,’ the 46th President said.

Those present at the White House included the players and coaching staff that won the title. Even Oshae Brissett, a member of the title winning team who is currently an unsigned free agent, was able to join his former teammates in the celebration.

Inversely, Baylor Scheierman – a rookie who was drafted after the Celtics won the title – was at the White House, but was not honored with the team.

Boston won an NBA record 18th championship over the summer as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

At the ceremony, Biden appeared to stumble on his words, mockingly confusing the Celtics 

After finishing the regular season as the best team in the league, the Celtics made easy work of their road to the finals.

They knocked off the Miami Heat, then the Cleveland Cavaliers – beating both teams in five games. Following that, they then swept the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals to make their second NBA Finals appearance in three years. 

The Celtics beat the Mavericks by 18 points in Game 1 of the Finals, then by seven points in Game 2 before the series flipped to Dallas.

Boston won Game 3 by seven points as well – leading many to believe that a clean sweep may be in order once again.

But an inspired performance by Dallas in Game 4 saw Luka Doncic lead the Mavericks to a 38 point victory – the third largest win in the history of the NBA Finals.

But with the series headed back to Boston for Game 5, the Celtics were able to recover. 16 years to the day after they won their last NBA title in 2008, the Celtics beat Dallas by 18 points to win banner 18.